Abdul Qadir

Abdul Qadir Khan SI (, 15 September 1955 – 6 September 2019) was an international cricketer who bowled leg spin for Pakistan.

Abdul Qadir is widely regarded as a legendary leg spinner from the 1970s and 1980s and was a role model for up and coming leg spinners.

Abdul Qadir played first-class cricket for Lahore, Punjab and Habib Bank Limited cricket teams during 1975–95.

During his first-class career, he achieved five or more wickets in an innings on seventy-five occasions, and ten or more wickets in a match twenty-one times.

He also scored two centuries and eight half centuries in first-class cricket.

Abdul Qadir made his debut for Habib Bank against United Bank Limited at the National Stadium during the 1975–76 season.

He took seven wickets in the match conceding 93 runs, including six wickets for 67 runs in the first innings.

Playing for Lahore C, he took six for 17 against Bahawalpur, his best bowling figures of the season.

Abdul Qadir played 209 first-class matches and took 960 wickets with an average of 23.24.

His best bowling figures for an innings were nine wickets for 56 runs, whereas his best performance for a match was 13 wickets for 101 runs.

As a batsman, he scored 3,740 runs, averaging 18.33 from 247 innings.

He also scored two centuries and eight fifties.

Abdul Qadir's highest score in the format was 112 runs.

Abdul Qadir appeared in 67 Tests and 104 One Day International (ODI) matches between 1977 and 1993, and captained the Pakistan cricket team in five ODIs.

Abdul Qadir played 67 Test matches during 1977–90 and took 236 wickets, with an average of 32.80, including 15 five-wicket hauls.

He made his Test debut against England at his home ground, Gaddafi Stadium, on 14 December 1977.

His leg-breaks and googlies both caused problems for the English batsmen, but he was only able to take one wicket and his length began to falter late in the innings, forcing Pakistan to take the new ball and bowl their fast bowlers instead.

He was far more successful in the second Test match.

He took 6 wickets for 44 runs in 24 overs, bowling around the wicket into the footmarks of English fast bowler Bob Willis, giving him the best bowling figures for a Pakistan bowler against England.

After taking five wickets in the third and final Test match, he finished as the leading wicket-taker for the series with 12 wickets at an average of 25.41.

Abdul Qadir's second Test series, in England in 1978, was an injury-plagued let-down, but he was a strong and established force by his return in 1982, when his six wickets in the Lord's Test played a major role in a historic Pakistani victory.

In ODIs, his best bowling figures were five wickets for 44 runs against Sri Lanka during the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

He was a member of the Pakistani team in the 1983 and 1987 Cricket World Cups.

Yahoo! Cricket described Abdul Qadir as "a master of the leg-spin" who "mastered the googlies, the flippers, the leg-breaks and the topspins."

He is widely regarded as a top spin bowler of his generation and was included in Richie Benaud's Greatest XI shortlist of an imaginary cricket team from the best players available from all countries and eras.

Former English captain Graham Gooch said that Abdul Qadir "was even finer than Shane Warne".

He was educated at the Government College University, Lahore.

Qadir was voted the best player in the Group B matches of the 1987 Cricket World Cup and won a car which he donated to Imran Khan for his Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre project.

In Test cricket, his best performance for a series was 30 wickets for 437 runs, in three Test matches at home, against England in 1987.

He achieved Pakistan's best bowling figures in a Test innings, which was nine wickets for 56 against the same team at the Gaddafi Stadium in the same series in 1987.

In November 2022, Abdul Qadir was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

His best bowling performance was against England at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore in 1987.

He also scored 1,029 runs including three fifties.

Abdul Qadir showed promise from his very first Test series, bowling along with left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim, with Wisden Almanack describing him as "the most notable discovery of his type for some time."

Qadir played his last first-class match in 1994.

Natural talent combined with aggression and passion made Abdul Qadir one of the most successful spinners of his era.

He had a distinct run-up, bounding in to the crease, and a great variety of deliveries: there was the orthodox leg-break, the topspinner, two googlies and the flipper.

He was unique for bowling leg spin at a time when it was not only rare but considered obsolete, and he kept the torch alight for a generation of leg spinners.

His fervent appeals made him a great favourite with the spectators but sometimes got him into trouble with umpires.

Later he was a commentator and Chief Selector of the Pakistan Cricket Board, from which he resigned in 2009 due to differences of opinion with leading Pakistan cricket administrators.